Psychology

This essay tackles the nature and effectiveness of subliminal advertising in influencing choice. The paper first discusses the definition, nature and techniques involved in subliminal advertising and its connection with the brain. It also presents three studies that either contradict the hypothesis or remain inconclusive about it. The conclusion focuses on the inconclusiveness of both theoretical and experimental information on subliminal advertising in terms of influencing choice and thereby recommends further research.

Introduction
In September 1957 in New Jersey, some moviegoers invited to drink Coca-Cola and eat popcorn (Moore, 1982) using messages that were presented at 5 second intervals with a 13000 of a second duration (Sandy, n.d.) and superimposed on the movie as it progressed. It is said that exposure times were so short that viewers were unaware of any message (Moore, 1982) and this caused a dramatic increase in coke and popcorn sales that almost immediately followed one of the first documented instances of subliminal advertising. However, no matter what criticisms were received by the marketing firm responsible for such otherwise unforgiveable psychological manipulations (Moore, 1982), it does not discredit the fact that the mind can be altered by subliminal messages. Moore (1982) states that while there is some marginal evidence that stimuli may influence affective reactions, the marketing relevance of the effectiveness of subliminal advertising in altering consumer preferences and attitudes towards products remains to be documented. This paper therefore seeks to prove whether subliminal advertising indeed influences the mind.

Definition of Subliminal Advertising
Subliminal advertising is defined as a set of techniques that focus and defocus the viewers attention and awareness (Subliminal Advertising, 1998). Such a method almost always creates an impact on the conscious memory of the viewer or the listener. He will then be able to remember something that he cannot consciously recall.

As always, the purpose of subliminal advertising is to entice the viewer into purchasing the product. The practice of subliminal advertising is purported to influence consumer behavior by subconsciously altering preferences or attitudes toward consumer products (Moore, 1982). One particular problem of advertisers in magazines is that the typical reader gives a full-page ad only a glance in passingsomething like 3 seconds (Subliminal Advertising, 1998) and so the goal is howthe potential buyers attention can be captured and focused, in the absence of what TV depends on like motion, musicand human voice (Subliminal Advertising, 1998). Therefore in order to do this more efficiently, the advertiser needs to manage various levels of attention within microseconds of each other so that the most conscious level of perception will partially mask, but will not overwhelm one or two of the lower levels (Subliminal Advertising, 1998). Markman (2008) somehow positively states that the purpose of subliminal messages is simply to increase the accessibility of concepts relating to certain product items.

However, perhaps the reason why there is minimal scientific literature on the principles and techniques of subliminal advertising is that as is often the case with government-sponsored researchthe corporate world is a world of trade secrets (Subliminal Advertising, 1998). Knowledge and information therefore is exclusive to the corporation that sponsors the research. Corporate secrecy almost always carries with it the signing of non-disclosure agreements among involved employees. Nevertheless, despite such a lack of scientific openness, there is still a need to know how exactly subliminal messages affect the brain and somehow try to determine from this information the extent to which the brain is influenced.
Techniques used in subliminal advertising include hypnotic suggestions, backmasking or the technique of recording audio messages backwards onto a former tape, and many comedic references such as Beavis and Butt-headand The Simpsons advertisingcigarettes (Sandy, n.d.). Other techniques include point of sale mind control scripts used by car salesmen and clothing store staff, and in-store sensory manipulation involving scents, visual displays and music that maximize impulse spending. Another technique is neuromarketing or devising more seductive advertising directed towards specific biological triggers that are believed to stimulate purchases (Howard, n.d.).

Examples of advertisements with subliminal messages can be found in the Subliminal Images and Hidden Messages website at  HYPERLINK httpwww.artistmike.comTempSubliminalAd.html httpwww.artistmike.comTempSubliminalAd.html and at the Advertising website at  HYPERLINK httpwww.poleshift.orgsublimindex.html httpwww.poleshift.orgsublimindex.html.

The Human Brain and Subliminal Advertising
Subliminal programming is defined as the act of conveying a message directly to the subconscious mind below the threshold of conscious awareness (Subliminal Message, 2005). These subliminal messages are believed to enter the brain at a level high enough for the subconscious mind to see, hear and understand, but low enough so that the conscious mind is not aware and will not block them (Subliminal Message, 2005). Subliminal messages actually include everyday images found almost everywhere  on video boxes, in magazine ads, even in the phone book, in songs and even in computer programs (Subliminal Images, n.d.). Subliminal programming techniques have since the 1980s been used to remove negative thoughts, behaviors and habits and to communicate positive suggestions directly to the subconscious (Subliminal Message, 2005). Thus advertising companies took advantage of such a feature.

It is believed and proven that your brain does log things that you arent even aware of and cant ever become aware of and there is some evidence that there is a brain response in the primary visual cortex to subliminal images that attract our attention (Subliminal Advertising, 2007) but this happens without any conscious impression of having seen anything. Nevertheless, there is a hypothesis that the brain response to subliminal messages is not automatic and depends on attention (Jha, 2007), which means that the brain absorbs the subliminal messages if the person himself is not too busy. It is also believed that there are three factors that determine the degree of effect of subliminal messages the skill of the designer, the motive and the acceptance level of the person or the intended audience. (Subliminal Messages, n.d.)

Effectiveness of Subliminal Advertising
In a study conducted by Vokey  Read (1985) to determine whether subliminal messages in advertisements and popular music affect behavior, results reveal no evidence to support such a claim. The results further suggest that thepresence of backward messages in popular music is actually more a function of active construction on the part of the perceiver than of the existence of the messages themselves (Vokey  Read, 1985). This information contradicts the claims of theoretical science that subliminal messages significantly influence choices.

In a telephone survey conducted by Zanot, Pincus  Lamp (1983), 81 of 209 samples had knowledge of subliminal advertising and believed that it to be unethical and harmful. Although these findings somehow imply that awareness of subliminal advertising is indeed significantly widespread, the results do not necessarily lead to the idea that the choices of the respondents were influenced by it.

In a relatively more recent experimental study conducted by Smith  Rogers (1994) where subjects were made to watch television commercials and whose intentions were rated to respond positively to such commercials, it was found out that commercials containing undetected messages were subsequently less likely to be remembered than commercials with no messages. Thus finally establishing some proof to the hypothesis that subliminal messages do indeed influence the brain. However, the mere fact of individuals remembering such commercials does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that their choices will consequently be altered and influenced by such an act of remembering. It means that to remember is one thing but to act upon what is remembered is another story.

Conclusion
Recent findings about the brain and the results of the study of Smith  Rogers (1994) may suggest that subliminal advertising indeed influences the mind. However, since there is no definite theory yet which states that response to subliminal advertising directly affects choice, then the findings are therefore inconclusive and hence require further research. Other reasons for further research include the negative results of the study of Vokey  Read (1985) and the inconclusive findings of Zanot, Pincus  Lamp (1983). In light of these findings, one may therefore conclude that perhaps the 1957 New Jersey event (Moore, 1982) as well as the overwhelming volume of theoretical information on subliminal advertising may indeed be merely isolated incidents or merely, as what Vokey  Read (1985) found out, more a function of active construction on the part of the perceiver than of the existence of the messages themselves.